Survey reveals TAs' unpaid work

School support staff are still doing regular unpaid work outside of their hours, researchers have found.

The government-funded survey is based on information from nearly 3,000 support staff who returned questionnaires last year, and follows a similar survey in 2004.

It found that two thirds regularly work more hours than their contract says, and only half of these are paid for the extra time.

Most of the overtime is voluntary but a quarter of respondents said they worked extra hours because they were told to.

"The results reveal the extent to which staff can feel obliged to work extra hours to their contracts," says the report.

More support staff now have job descriptions, and they are more likely to be appraised, than two years ago, but one in three said they were not being supervised by anyone.

More schools now ask for qualifications and previous experience before they employ support staff, especially teaching assistants. But there was little sign that they were offering more training to their staff. Special school staff were more likely to have a job description, and had more training.

When teachers were questioned about the impact of support staff on them, three quarters said teaching assistants made their own jobs more satisfying. Teaching assistants were also more satisfied than most other support staff with their jobs.

Deployment and impact of support staff in schools
Department for Children, Schools and Families